Can 5' nucleotidase estimation be a predictor of liver metastases?

The diagnosis of hepatic metastases is important and has prognostic significance in clinical medicine. A variety of biochemical tests have been used to diagnose liver metastases before surgery and during follow up. However, recently, with the introduction of high resolution imaging modalities like CT Scan/Ultrasonography, the value of these biochemical tests declined. Ultrasonography/CT Scan can pick up liver metastases upto 0.5 cm diameter. Many a times bigger lesions and obviously smaller lesions can be missed by these screening methods. Various biochemical markers were proposed to pick up liver metastases. In this study, the estimation of 5'nucleotidase is found to be the most sensitive predictor of liver metastases when compared to conventional markers and imaging modalities.